Environmental Biology 12-13: PA Ecology IV

When I went outside yesterday looking for an animal to do my blog on, I thought that all I was gonna find was going to be some kind of rabbit or a squirrel. And I was right, I only saw one squirrel! It was too fast for me to take a picture of it as it leaped through the tree, but this picture I found is nearly the same as what I saw. The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel that lives in the eastern and midwestern United States (called simply gray squirrel in midwest). It is one of the most common of squirrels, with
a designation of least concern on its conservation status.

The eastern gray squirrel is mostly gray on top with a white belly and long bushy tail. Sometimes the coat will contain traces of brown in the top mixed into the gray, but this is semi-uncommon. They are typically between nine and twelve inches long without the tail. The tail adds between seven and ten inches to the total length. The eastern ground squirrel typically weighs half a kilogram.

It lives in trees and hoards food away there during the fall months to survive through the winter. They eat primarily nuts, bark, berries, and certain types of mushrooms. While they prefer to live in dense woodland, they can also thrive in suburban areas when enough trees are available. They prefer White Oak, American Beech, American Elm, and Red Maple to other trees. They build their nests of sort up high in the branches away from their predators, or which there are many, My dogs have killed probably six or seven squirrels in the past two years, and they aren't even the biggest threat.

Predators to the eastern gray squirrel include coyotes, foxes, cats, dogs, owls, raccoons, and snakes. They are very attentive and are always on the lookout for danger. Squirrels can dash up trees in the blink of the eye, allowing them to escape most of their pursuers.

While squirrels are not the most important members of their ecosystems, they still have a lot to offer to their communities. Every creature plays it's own role, the squirrel only eats certain plants and nuts within it's niche, allowing other animals to coexist with it.